The Last of Us and Naughty Dog boss Neil Druckmann has once again teased two "exciting new projects" are in the works for the series, but he's not going to tell you what they are yet.
In a statement shared following this year's Last of Us Day (commemorating the in-universe Outbreak Day on September 26), Druckmann reconfirms that we can expect more Last of Us at some point, and promises that whatever Naughty Dog is cooking up will be worth it.
"Since Grounded II, we've talked about the possibility of telling more stories in the world of The Last of Us," Druckmann begins, referring to the 2024 documentary covering the making of The Last of Us Part 2.
"We have a couple of very exciting new projects in very early stages – so we can't say much about them at this point. I will tell you that both projects will expand the canon of The Last of Us beyond Part I and Part II," he continues. "The world of The Last of Us means a great deal to us, and we wouldn't return to it unless we had something meaningful to say. We believe these stories are worth telling."
Druckmann actually already teased these two projects at the start of the month, at which point he said that "we're not done with The Last of Us," and "there's a couple projects in the works that, when the time is right, I'm very excited to talk about." Clearly, with him now confirming that they're in the "very early stages," we shouldn't expect to see anything of them any time soon.
The promise to "expand the canon" of the first two games is an interesting note – it rules out the possibility of yet more remasters or remakes of the same releases, which is something. Look, after the first game got both a remaster and remake within nine years of its initial launch, anything seemed possible. The phrasing also notably doesn't confirm Part 3 – the projects could seemingly be set at any point in The Last of Us universe's timeline. Joel and Tommy prequel, anyone?
Otherwise, I can't help but notice the word "projects" is used instead of 'games' – there's a chance here that one or both of them aren't actually full-fat new releases, though I'm hopeful that this isn't the case. In previous blog posts, Druckmann referred to both The Last of Us Part 2 and The Last of Us Online as projects, too, and while the latter has unfortunately since been canceled, it was still set to be a standalone title in its own right.
Needless to say, this language clearly isn't unusual here, but we'll just have to wait and see what the team at Naughty Dog is cooking up. For now, as Druckmann notes, the devs are "heads down on what is shaping up to be Naughty Dog's most ambitious game yet" in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which is now set for a full reveal at some point next year.
